Watching his movements, Ya's arms hugging herself became stiff and awkward.
For a moment, she genuinely couldn't tell if this psycho's brain was truly messed up or just pretending.
"I'm really freezing. Girls really can't handle the cold. My stomach is already hurting." Ya was squatting on the ground, clutching her belly, looking utterly miserable.
"You wouldn't want to end up with no wife, right?" Ya squatted, burying her face in her knees, speaking softly.
The audience was going wild at Ya's maneuver.
From the information Ya shared earlier, viewers could figure out what Jiang Che's psychiatric disorder was.
Paranoia.
This disorder is caused by various factors—biological, psychological, social environment—that mess with the brain's relatively stable functional state, resulting in abnormal cognition, emotion, and wilful behavior.
The severity and duration of these abnormalities go way beyond the normal range of mental fluctuation.
No one really knows what triggered Jiang Che, but all you need is to know what his mental obsession is.
In other words, Jiang Che is fine most of the time, communicates normally, but if you hit his mental fixation, he can be manipulated.
This is exactly how the hospital staff get psychiatric patients to listen:
A mix of coaxing and trickery—if all else fails, straight up force.
[Psych patients tend to be stubborn. This guy's basically a treasure trove in human form, totally screwed by this little nurse.]
[Feels like that nurse evil spirit did something with the clothes, tricking him into wearing them might be handing her a grenade.]
[Worrying about this, worrying about that, but if you don't wear it now, you might die instantly. At least with it, you get a bit more time.]
[If she leaves, where's this guy gonna find a wife?]
[Judging by his mental state, he'd probably charge at any evil spirit you point at and say it's his wife.]
...
The audience thinks so, Ya thinks so too. She's worried the clothes might have a tracking function, but she's way more scared of dying for lack of concealing her scent.
Nighttime is when people die most easily—and she knows Jiang Che has a bracelet. She overheard the Blood Nurse mention it at dinner, telling Jiang Che not to take it off.
So tallying it up, if danger strikes Jiang Che's got the bracelet shielding him, he won't die right away. She doesn't plan on sending Jiang Che to his death just yet.
With just herself, she doesn't stand a chance at surviving.
She's just a nurse—up against anyone and she's no match. Right now, her only resource is Jiang Che.
Jiang Che saw her unmoving, crouched down on the floor, and couldn't help but frown. He had indeed heard that girls are more sensitive to cold.
"Your wife is a girl, too. Surely you wouldn't want her to know you ignored the person helping you find your wife, right?" Ya keeps threatening him with his imaginary wife.
"And, you have a daughter. If your daughter needed help out there, you wouldn't want people to be as cold-blooded as you, would you?" Ya keeps up the moral assault, ramping it up.
Earlier she only used "wife" to control Jiang Che—she'd mentioned a kid, but hadn't said it was a daughter.
But now she realized, claiming it's a daughter makes Jiang Che even more obedient.
If she didn't urgently need Jiang Che's doctor coat, she would've saved the "daughter" trump card for a situation where Jiang Che had to risk his life for her survival.
Jiang Che's mind reeled as if struck—deep in his brain there was an image of his whole family.
Up to now, only the shadow of his parents.
Since the parents' shadows became the Blood Slaughter Couple, his mind conjured blurred images of wife and child.
But in this moment, the child's image began to grow longer hair, her clothing morphing into a dress.
A slender arm holding the woman's hand, looking soft and sweet—the fragrant innocence of a little girl.
He squatted, holding his head, the shadow had become a girl beside his wife, clutching her hand, standing in the fog.
His brain felt like it was tearing itself apart, those fuzzy shapes in his mind started taking clear form.
Ya squatted, slightly raised her face, glancing at Jiang Che from the corner of her eye.
She's a nurse at the mental hospital—not as professional as a doctor, but she knows a bit about psychiatric care.
Watching Jiang Che cry out in pain, holding his head, she instantly knew her words had hit him hard.
She could now confirm—wife and children, those are the levers to manipulate Jiang Che.
"When you're out in the world, everyone needs help sometimes. You wouldn't want your daughter to face hardship and have no one step in, right?" She ups the stimulus, knowing exactly how to control Jiang Che's psyche.
Sure enough, Jiang Che numbly stood up, starting to unbutton his doctor's coat.
Ya's joy was plain in her eyes. This coat can help humans hide their scent, make the evil spirits think she's one of them!
Except needing to guard against tracking by the Blood Slaughter Couple, she's basically fearless against any evil spirits now!
She could even boldly search for the exit of Dungeon No. 9, no longer tiptoe around like the other survivors.
This time, she might really make it out alive!
First clear!
The first to clear Dungeon No. 9!
Just thinking about it made her tremble with excitement.
Jiang Che unbuttoned all the doctor's coat buckles, then slipped it off.
Seeing him undress, the audience started throwing jealous glances at Nurse Ya.
[Ya's living the dream.]
[If she survives, who'd ever dare treat her as just an ordinary nurse again?]
[Who says luck isn't a kind of strength?]
...
If Ya survives this dungeon, not only will she get two powerful dungeon items, the most important thing is the first clear—the first reward for escaping from Dungeon No. 9.
In real life, every ten days a hunting ground descends, evil spirits from the dungeons invade the real world, marking areas and starting their slaughter.
Humans aren't completely doomed—the bizarre dungeons are how humans grow stronger. Escaping from a dungeon greatly enhances your physical abilities.
The first person to clear gets a hundredfold boost compared to regular clears.
If you escape, even your family's chickens and dogs can ascend along with you!
Red Pearl Mental Hospital and circles like the Celestial Destiny Circle are the choice of the rich, not the choice of the strong.
The strong actively seek out regions likely to spawn dungeons, enter and pursue challenges.
After shedding the coat, Jiang Che finally felt a chill, but he didn't pause—after taking off the doctor's coat, he started removing the blue-and-white striped patient uniform he had underneath.
"This one's warmer, thicker." Saying so, he handed over the blue-and-white stripes he'd just taken off, and put the doctor's coat back on.
The coat fit well, but let cold air in everywhere. Through the big V neckline of the doctor's coat, you could see that Jiang Che was wearing nothing underneath.
"Put this one on outside, you'll definitely be warmer."
"This one on the outside, it's drafty, not warm at all."